The Score

The Score

A weekly rating of the city zeitgeist.

-3 A trailer fire destroys the instruments and new uniforms of Powhatan High School's marching band. Come on, isn't life hard enough for marching band kids?

+6 The Richmond Symphony launches its season with a stirring and well-received concert featuring the young Richmond composer Mason Bates and the dead German composer Beethoven. Many audience members appeared to have met them both.

-2 A few members of the controversial hate group Westboro Baptist Church return to Richmond to protest at churches and participate in a mock debate over free speech with a local lawyer. Hey, is the for sale sign still up on Guantanamo Bay? We have an idea.

+7 The party continues at the State Fair of Virginia, where thousands of people see a near-record day of heat and at least two days of chilly rain. Stop putting off your visit! Under these conditions, farm animals have never smelled so authentic!

+1 Speaking of farms, we finally have a tractor museum: The T-D reports on the grand opening of Keystone Tractor Works in Colonial Heights, a 70,000-square-foot museum featuring some 230 antique tractors. That's nearly enough horsepower to pull the weight of everyone who's been eating the State Fair's pork parfaits and deep-fried Twinkies.